Electrostatic precipitators are used to remove contaminants, such as liquid droplets and solid particles, from a fluid in which they are suspended. The precipitation process typically includes at least two basic steps. First, the contaminated suspension is ionized by passing it through an electrical corona. The ions produced in the fluid then collide with the suspended contaminant and cause the droplets and particles to become electrically charged. The ionized fluid with the charged contaminant particles is then passed through an electrostatic field where the charged particles are urged out of the fluid by a Coulombic force. The practical aspects of electrostatic precipitation, also referred to as electrodeposition or electro-precipitation, were first demonstrated on a commercial scale in the United States by Cottrell in 1906 and further developed by Penny in 1936.